Languages

It is incredibly important to choose a third language after English and Irish.  Different courses and colleges have different requirements when it comes to languages. It is very important to find out whether or not you will need one to do the course you are interested in. Having another language is very handy later on if you plan on traveling and it may be essential depending on your career path. What we have to bear in mind is that it takes time to learn a language and if you decide now not to do it, only to find out later that you need it, it may be too late to pick it up. Not doing it will rule you out of hundreds of courses on the C.A.O. You will not need it for any of the Institutes of Technology but at this point to keep all doors open another language is very important. For entry into any of the NUI colleges, a third language is necessary.  Recent exemptions have been made. Science, Agriculture, Engineering and course in Nursing no longer require a third language. If you are interested in studying in the National College of Art and Design you can choose Art instead of a third language.Trinity College, University of Limerick and Dublin City University will also accept 2 languages. If you have both English and Irish then you have met their entry requirements. Check out www.ncca.ie to see the range of languages on offer.

There has been a huge increase in the number of courses offering a language option. Language can be paired with many areas such a Journalism, Business and Commerce. Make sure to check out the requirements for the course you are interested in. Most colleges require you get a minimum of a C3 in Higher level language to continue to study it at third level. One of the advantages of doing a language at third level is that you may get to study abroad. A lot of courses offer an Erasmus year which will help you improve your language as well as understand the culture.